Protecting your Bomber runs by engaging your Jet Fighter with their Jet Fighters

[Theodora]

I always send my Fighter Jets first in the bombardment stack. The idea is to engage enemy Fighter Jets who are set to control the skies, and shoot them down. Sometimes they just drop bombs (and miss), but don't engage the enemy Fighter Jets.

Then once my Jet Fighters have gone through, I send in a Bomber, and up out of nowhere pops a controlling-the-skies Fighter Jet and shoots it down! WTF-- Why was it holding back before that? Is there any way to make sure your Fighter Jets engage the skies-controllers?

 

[Calis]

If you have set your jet fighters to air superiority, they are able to intercept enemy interceptors...

 

[Ringo Kid]

I think its a random thing. Every bombing run the enemy fighters have a percentage chance of engaging the attacker, whether it happens to be a bomber or fighter. So the answer is to attack with jets until all the enemy fighters engage; then use the bombers.

So you are doing the right thing, you just need more fighters.

 

[Calis]

I think its a random thing. Every bombing run the enemy fighters have a percentage chance of engaging the attacker, whether it happens to be a bomber or fighter. So the answer is to attack with jets until all the enemy fighters engage; then use the bombers.

So you are doing the right thing, you just need more fighters.

As far as I remember jets and bombers cost the same in shields. So there is no real sense to this, as you are going to lose your fighters. Instead I'd rather go with more bombers really...

Of course there is a certain % chance that enemy fighters intercept, but again your fighters can again shot them down while intercepting!!

 

[Ringo Kid]

Yes, thats true if you build enough bombers, it really wont matter if you lose one sometimes to a fighter. Bombers work best in a massive attack that kills all the defenders, lowers the pop to one, and your cavalry or tank marches into the "open city". Obviously that will kill the fighter too. Great for quick wars in Republic or Democracy. First you build 20 or 30 bombers ;a similar number of tanks or cavalry - THEN declare war and take ten or twelve citys - and negotiate peace as soon as the AI will "talk". .

 

[Snarkhunter]

Of course there is a certain % chance that enemy fighters intercept, but again your fighters can again shot them down while intercepting!!

The interceptor range is so short I doubt this is very effective, tactically. I've never seen one of my interceptors shoot down an enemy fighter in the course of a bomber mission. You'd have to be bombing towns within 4-5 tiles of your base, and at that point, I'd just use arty and have done with it. I'd just look on this as a rare freebie, like popping a settler from a hut. . . .

kk

 

[Calis]

The interceptor range is so short I doubt this is very effective, tactically. I've never seen one of my interceptors shoot down an enemy fighter in the course of a bomber mission. You'd have to be bombing towns within 4-5 tiles of your base, and at that point, I'd just use arty and have done with it. I'd just look on this as a rare freebie, like popping a settler from a hut. . . .
kk

I had it several times during one bombing mission and there were more tiles inbetween (dunno exactly anymore) and at that time I was surprised myself as I didn't know that this is possible!

 

[Theodora]

Cool! I've learned something new about unit capabilities today.

Speaking of Jet Fighters-- why do they suck so much at bombing? I think in all the hundreds of times I've sent Fighters on bombing raids, they've only hit the target once-- and that wasn't a Jet, it was the prop-engine Fighter that hardly ever gets built because it goes obsolete on the tech tree so quickly.

 

[Calis]

Speaking of Jet Fighters-- why do they suck so much at bombing?

Because they are fighter no bombers...simply look at the name

And don't take me serious at times

 

[Theodora]

OK, that's perfectly logical.
But then I don't get what was the point of giving them bombing capability in the first place.

 

[Calis]

OK, that's perfectly logical.
But then I don't get what was the point of giving them bombing capability in the first place.

Well, this is an American game. Maybe they needed the bombing ability on jet fighters to create the F-15 UU...which has twice as many points at bombing as the ordinary jet fighter

 

[cfeyyaz]

I tested few days ago, how this interceptions and bombing works. The interceptor's attacking and the bombing unit's defending values are compared to determine, whether the interceptor or the bomber will win the dogfight.
I don't know, how it is determined, if a fighter attemps to intercept the bomber or not, but i observed, that the more fighters are assigned for the air superiority mission, the more probable they will attempt to intercept.

 

[TheOverseer714]

I've noticed that elite or veteran bombers are less likely to be shot down if intercepted, they have a better chance of surviving. Using Fighters first seems to not make much difference, so just build more veteran bombers and accept the losses.

 

[Zandrew]

In air to air battles the units duke it out, each losing hit points until one loses them all, just like in the ground battles. It happens so fast that you don't see it the way you do with ground battles, but I've often noticed that when one of my planes gets shot down I can briefly see that the enemy fighter gets red lined or yellow lined in the fight. So, that's why your elite bomber is more likely to survive: it has more hit points.
Also, I do like to bomb with fighters first if I can, especially if I had a bomber shot down by a fighter at that target on the previous turn. They rarely hit anything with their bombs, but their attack ability is twice as good as the bomber so they win the dog fights a lot more often than the bomber. Even if they lose, they've at least kept that defending fighter from going after my bombers that turn. Each fighter on air superiority has a certain percent chance of engaging an enemy on a bombing run, but each one can only engage once per turn.

 

[darski]

This may seem like a very newb question but if you put your fighters on Air Superiority do they still get a bombing run? I always thought they stayed at home and fought incoming but now I am not sure.

 

[Calis]

This may seem like a very newb question but if you put your fighters on Air Superiority do they still get a bombing run? I always thought they stayed at home and fought incoming but now I am not sure.

No, they can't do both, as you can't put them on Air Superiority after a bombing run. But they are close to unseless as bombers anyway.

 

[Brainiac18]

also bombers are better (i gues not in vanila) cause they take hitpoint first from bombardment units like planes themselves and ships, and only when those gone, taking infantrys..

 

[Argetnyx]

its meant to work that first the fighters go in and intercept enemy defending fighters, then the bombers safely go in and bomb the undefended target. civ3 does not accurately represent that, because the fighters have a low defensive value, making them easy to shoot down